FINTECHFANBOY
Nobody wants to bank.
They want what banking enables.
Designing for Need makes the case that banking is a need-to-do experience, not a want-to-do one — and that chasing Disney-style delight is exactly why so much financial CX fails.
“Designing with Need Delivers the diagnosis and the cure… the 17 design principles are a must-read.”
— RON SHEVLIN, Chief Research Officer, Cornerstone Advisors · Forbes Contributor
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THE CORE DISTINCTION
Want-to-do. Need-to-do.
Most CX playbooks were written for leisure and entertainment. Banking, insurance, and government are a different category entirely — and they need different rules.
INSIDE THE BOOK
17 design principles for financial services that actually work.
— Why Disney-style CX fails in banking — and what to build instead.
— How Amazon-style simplicity wins in regulated, need-driven categories.
— A practical framework for telling want-to-do problems apart from need-to-do ones — and designing for each correctly.
EARLY PRAISE
Designing for Need presents clear evidence that as technology improves, what we call ‘CX’ is morphing. AI is likely to push design even further by shifting the focus away from traditional apps and interfaces toward conversational, contextual, and personalized interactions. This is the wake-up call we need to evolve how we deliver services at AI speed.
Brett King
Bestselling Author of the Bank x.0 series and host of Breaking Banks podcast
Banks frequently struggle to provide excellent customer experiences, and it's costing them. Designing for Need provides a clear path forward: distinguish the things you need to do from the things you want to do, then design for speed, clarity, and confidence. It's a grounded, practical read for anyone building or evaluating customer experiences in financial services.
Greg Palmer
Host, Keynote Speaker, and VP, Finovate, and Director of Fintech Strategy at Informa Festivals
Banks have spent years importing executives from Disney and Starbucks, wondering why the magic never arrived. Designing for Need delivers the diagnosis and the cure: customers in need-to-do industries don't want delight, they want speed and ease. The 17 design principles are a must-read.
Ron Shevlin
Chief Research Officer at Cornerstone Advisors, Author and Forbes Contributor
Designing for Need reframes banking CX around something more important than engagement: trust, clarity, and getting the job done. Corcoran offers a clean framework and real-world patterns for designing experiences that customers will actually choose — and stay with.
Jeffery Kendall
CEO, Nymbus
FOUNDER · AUTHOR · EVANGELIST · CX STRATEGIST
Derek Corcoran
Derek Corcoran (the Fintech Fanboy) is a customer experience leader in banking. Derek has spoken at conferences across the US, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East, and has been featured in outlets such as Forbes, American Banker, Breaking Banks Podcast, The Financial Brand, and Fintech Insider. A trained mathematician, Derek brings an analytical, behavior-informed approach to reducing friction in digital journeys, improving experiences for global institutions including Citibank, HSBC, and regional banks and credit unions. Derek is an Irishman who spent almost two decades in Australia and now lives in Colorado with his wife and two sons, enjoying the skiing, fishing and biking the state has to offer.
Founding partner, Avoka — acquired by Temenos. Sought-after advisor to banks, credit unions, and fintechs.
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